No one around here knows what it means if you say something is ‘pants’.
‘The ant’s pants’ is a good thing. Same for ‘the cat’s pajamas’. But if something’s ‘pants’, that means it sucks.
A man who chose “Lloyds is pants” as his telephone banking password said he found it had been changed by a member of staff to “no it’s not”.
Rather curious that staff members can have access to your passwords and change them capriciously. But I’m more curious about the pants. It would appear to be a UK English item. Anyone know of its origins? I’d love to get into it, but I have thesis work, so for now it’s going under deriv. uncert.
Update: Alarik from comments has fixed my mistake: it’s ‘pants’, not ‘the pants’. I always seem to get my articles wrong on idioms. For a while, I thought someone took a piss out of someone, when in fact they’re taking the piss. WAF.
29 August 2008 at 7:05 am
I’ve never heard anything described as ‘the pants’, just pants as a straight adjective:
“Well, that was a bit pants.”
I guess it’s a bit like bollocks in that respect. If I say your lectures are bollocks, I don’t like them. If they’re the “the dog’s bollocks”, then they’re fantastic.
I can only guess about the origins. I figure it’s just a generic toilet reference.
29 August 2008 at 8:14 am
You’re right! It’s probably using ‘pants’ to describe things that pants are worn over. A process known as ‘metonymy’.
Have to fix the post now.
29 August 2008 at 11:09 pm
Definitely a British phrase I can confirm. Relatively recent – last 10-20 years or so. I don’t think it’s metonymy though. I suspect it’s more to do with the word itself. Pants in UK English mean underpants of course, not trousers, and is just a silly word – childish. Some info here: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/p.htm
and here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/1076585.stm
I’d venture a guess that in the British mind ‘pants’ would be associated with the kind of underwear one would wear when assuming no one else will see them – you know, the faded, possibly a bit baggy ones that you put on when all the pretty knickers (or cool boxers) are in the wash! It’s a lighter expression than ‘crap’ and would be used when needing to express a level of disappointment, rather than disgust or dislike. Probably closer to ‘lame’.
29 August 2008 at 11:10 pm
I’ve tinied that second link now:
http://tinyurl.com/2k4mc